Duplicating machines with automatic stencil destroyer

ABSTRACT

A duplicating machine having a stencil carrier movable to repeatedly carry a stencil into and out of a printing position and a counter operatively coupled to the carrier, has a stencil spoiler movable into an operative position to engage and spoil a stencil on the carrier, and a retainer controllable by the counter to hold the spoiler inoperative until the counter responds to the completion of a predetermined number of operative movements by the stencil carrier.

United States Patent Inventor Bevan Graham l'lorstmann Newbridge Works,Bath, Somerset, England Appl. No. 825,170

Filed May 16, 1969 Patented Feb. 23, 1971 DUPLICATING MACHINES WITHAUTOMATIC STENCIL DESTROYER [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS1,448,994 3/1923 Dauley et al 101/24 1,571,470 2/1926 Gabe] 101/242,617,593 11/1952 Avdier et a1. 101/322X 3,375,783 4/1968 Grimmetal..... 101/132 3,430,558 3/1969 Cassano 101/132 PrimaryExaminer-William B. Penn Assistant Examiner-EM. Coven Attorneys-Emory L.Groff and Emory L. Groff, Jr.

4 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

[1.5. CI. 101/132, 101/24, lOl/322 Int. Cl B411 ll/08, B441) 5/00 FieldofSeareh 101/132, 24, 23, 322

PATENTEU FEB23 19m SHEEI 1 [1F 2 7 WW 4 mm Z w M16. W 6 W B DUPLIGATINGMACHINES WITH AUTOMATIC STENCIL DESTROYER This invention concernsduplicating machines of the kind comprising a stencil-carrier for movingan inked stencil repeatedly to a printing position to engage sheets ofpaper presented one at a time at that position and thereby to print oneach sheet in turn the legend initially formed on the stencil.

An object of the invention is to provide such a machine which willautomatically spoil a stencil after a predetermined number of copieshave been taken from it.

The invention has been developed for signing checks that is forduplicating on checks a signature which has first been formed on thestencil. Known machines for reproducing a signature on checks andsimilar documents have employed printing blocks of metal, rubber orother substantially permanent material, thereby presenting securityrisks calling for the use of locking devices and other complicated meansto prevent unauthorized use of the blocks. By a machine in accordancewith the invention the security risk can be substantially reduced. Alsothe improved machine can be used with advantage for duplicating anyconfidential or classified matter.

In accordance with the invention a duplicating machine having a movablestencil-carrier for repeatedly moving a stencil in a predetermined pathinto and out of a printing position, means for feeding paper sheetssingly in succession to the printing position and a counter operativelycoupled to the carrier to count successive copies of movement of thecarrier and thereby of the stencil into and out of the printingposition, also has a stencil spoiler mounted adjacent to the path of thestencil and movable into and out of that path, a releasable retainer forholding the spoiler out of said path and means coupled to the counterand operable to release the retainer to move the spoiler into that pathby the counter registering a predetermined number of cycles of movementof the carrier.

In its preferred form the invention is applied in a rotary duplicatingmachine having a rotatable drum with means for releasably holding astencil on its periphery, reciprocable sheet feeding means operativelycoupled to the drum for presenting by each rotation of the drum a singlesheet to a printing position for engagement by a stencil carried throughthat position by the drum, and a counter operatively coupled to the drumto count the rotations thereof, the machine also having, in accordancewith the invention, a stencil spoiler mounted adjacent to the peripheryof the drum and movable into and out of the path of the stencil, aretainer for holding the spoiler out of said path and an operativecoupling between the counter and the retainer to hold the spoiler out ofsaid path and, by the counter responding to a predetermined rotation ofthe drum, to actuate the retainer to move the spoiler into said path.

Further details of the invention will be given in the followingdescription, by way of example, of an embodiment in a rotary duplicatingmachine which is illustrated in the accompanying diagrammatic drawings,wherein:

FIG. I is a view, partly in section, of one side of the machine; and

FIG. 2 is a view, also partly in section, of the other side of themachine.

On a table base 1 is mounted a support wall 2 on one side of which, asshown in FIG. I, is mounted a rotatable drum 3, with its axishorizontal, under a cover 4 which is attached by a hinge 5 about whichit can be turned between the closed position shown, where it rests on astop 6, and an open position to give access to the drum. Below the drum3 is mounted a pressure roller 7.

The drum 3 is of known form, being adapted to have a stencil sheetreleasably secured to its periphery and having a handle or motor drivecoupled to its shaft 8 (FIG 2) for turning it in the direction of thearrows to draw a check or other sheet of paper between the drum 3 andpressure roller 7 at the printing position as the stencil is carried bythe drum through that position. In the structure of the drum an inkingdevice provides for printing on each sheet of a duplicate of a signatureor other legend initially formed on the stencil. A filler cap for thedrum in indicated at 64.

In a lower position on the feed side of the drum there is a holder for astack of sheets and, above the holder, reciprocable means for feedingthe sheets singly from the top of the stack to the nip between the drum3 and pressure roller 7. The stack holder and sheet feeder can be of anyknown form in which the feeder is operatively coupled to the drum and sosynchronized with it that the printed legend will appear atsubstantially the same position on each sheet. In the illustratedarrangement, the stack holder is a flat table 10 mounted above a flatbase 9 and urged upwardly by a spring 11, the table 10 and base 9 beingcoupled by a link mechanism 12 which maintains the table 10 parallel toand in register with the base 9. When the table 10 is fully depressed,the chamfered inner end 13 of a horizontal latching spindle 14, mountedin guides 15 under one end of the table 10 and biased inwards by aspring 16, is displaced by and snaps under an inclined catch 17 on thebase 9. In front of the table 10 a slightly upwardly inclined flat inletguide 18 leads to the printing position from the top of a vertical wall19 which also serves to locate one end of the pack. At the top of a stem20 on one face of the wall 19 a thin locating tongue 21 projects awayfrom and in alignment with the inlet guide 18.

To load the machine, the table 10 is depressed until the catch 17 isengaged by the latch 13 and then a stack of the blank sheets is placedupon the depressed table 10. The latch 13 is now disengaged by pullingthe knob 22, so that the spring 11 raises the table 10 until the forwardend of the top of the stack is held against the underside of the tongue21, and in a generally central position the stack is also pressedupwards against a transverse backing roller 23.

The backing roller 23 is freely rotatable, clockwise is FIG. 1, in thesense to roll on the top sheet first fed towards and thereafter drawnaway by the drum 3. The backing roller 23 has an array of ratchet teeth24 engaged by a pivoted pawl 25 which is biased into engagement with theratchet teeth 24 by a spring 26 which provides that the roller 23 can beturned slightly in opposition to its direction of free rotation.

Between the backing roller 23 and the inlet guide 18 the top of thestack will be engaged by a transverse feed blade 26a which in theready-to-feed position (FIG. 1) is substantially vertical with a lowerhorizontal flat foot 27 resting on the top of the stack. The blade ispivotal intermediately of the foot 27 and the top of the blade on atransverse bar 28. In its ready-tofeed position the blade 26a is locatedvertically by being engaged, on its side remote from the drum 3, abovethe bar 28 by an adjustable fixed stop 29 and below the bar 28 by anadjustable movable stop 30. The blade 26a and movable stop 30 aremounted on a feed carriage 31 which is reciprocable horizontally towardsand away from the printing position and is located by fixed guide pins32, 32 slidable in and relatively to horizontal slots 33 in the carriage31. A tension spring 34 retracts the carriage 31 away from the printingposition into the ready-to-feed position shown. As shown in FIG. 2, adisc 35 fast on the drum shaft 8 carries near its periphery a roller 36which, as the drum 3 is turned, can engage a projection 37 on thecarriage 31 in the sense to draw the carriage towards the printingposition. The relative arrangement of the projection 37 and the roller36 is such that after the drum 3 has turned about 60 the roller willdisengage the projection and allow the carriage 31 to be retracted bythe spring 34.

After the machine is loaded and before printing is started the top sheetof a stack is slightly displaced away from the printing position torelease its leading edge from under the locating tongue 21. As the drum3 is then turned the blade 26a feeds the top sheet forward, over thetongue 21 and guide 18 into the nip between the drum 3 and pressureroller 7, whereupon the continued movement of the sheet is effected bythe drum 3 as it effects the printing operation and then discharges theprinted sheet over a forward guide 38 to an appropriate receptacle 39.

On the carriage 31 being retracted, the foot 27 of the blade 26a isfrictionally in engagement with the top sheet which is still being drawnforward by the drum 3; this engagement tilts the blade 26a on its bar 28towards the drum 3 at its foot and away from the drum 3 at its upperend, Before the carriage 31 is fully retracted, the top sheet willbecome drawn out of engagement with the blade 26a which then rests onthe next sheet; at the end of the retraction movement the blade 26a isforcibly turned into the vertical position by engaging the fixed stop29, and in this final turning movement the foot 27 draw the now topmostsheet rearwardly from under the tongue 21 to the slight extentcontrolled by the spring biased pawl and ratchet hold 24, 25, 26 on thebacking roller 23, so that the device is automatically set for the nextprinting operation.

In accordance with the invention, a spindle 40 mounted for turning inthe main support 2 carries an arm 41 having on one end a stencil spoiler42 which is shown as a toothed wheel or cylinder but can be any form ofspiked bar, drum or other device which when brought into engagement withthe stencil will tear or otherwise spoil it. The arrangement of spindle40, arm 41 and spoiler 42 is such that it can be turned to bring thespoiler 42 into or out of engagement with the stencil, and an extension43 of the arm 4] enables the device to be hand manipulated, if required.As shown in FIG. 2, the spindle 40 also carries a second arm 44 engagedby a tension spring 45 in the sense to turn the spindle 40 to move thespoiler 42 into the path of the stencil on the drum 3. A projection 46on the second arm 44 engages in a slotted link 47 pivotally coupled tothe armature 48 of a solenoid 49 which, when electrically energized,through leads 50, retracts the armature 48 and turns the arm 44 againstthe force of the spring 45 to move the spoiler 42 away from theperiphery of the drum 3 and to hold it in this position. The mainsupport also carries a counter 51, conveniently having a visibleregister 52, which can be set to a predetermined FIG. by hand controls53, 53. Within the counter 51 is a microswitch, not shown, which is socontrolled by the mechanism of the counter 51 that at zero count theswitch is open, but at any other count the switch is closed. Themicroswitch controls the current flow from a main cable 54, and aterminal block 55 through leads 56, 57, 58 and 50 to the solenoid 49 anda red warning lamp 59 in parallel with the solenoid, so that in anycondition of counter 51 other than zero the warning lamp 59 is lit andthe solenoid 49 is energized to retract the spoiler 42 from the drum 3.

Adjacent the disc 35 on the drum shaft 8 is mounted a pulsing switch 60having an actuating projection 61 extending into the path of theaforementioned roller 36, so that towards the end of each operativerotation of the drum 3 the pulsing switch 60 will be actuated to emit apulse. Within the counter 51 a pulse receiver (not shown) is responsiveto a pulse received over leads 62 from the pulsing switch 60 to reducethe preset registration of the counter by one unit.

Thus after the counter 51 has been set to the required number of printsto be made from a stencil and thereby the spoiler 42 is retracted andheld away from the drum 3 by the energized solenoid, the registerednumber will be reduced a unit at a time as the successive printingoperations are effected, until when the preset number of operations havebeen made the counter will have returned to zero to extinguish thewarning light 59 and at the same time release the solenoid 49 to permitthe spoiler 42 to be moved by its spring 45 into its operative positionto spoil the stencil, so that at least no further acceptable prints canbe made from the stencil.

Above the solenoid 49 (FIG. 2) there is indicated a rearcover attachmentspigot 63.

lclaim:

l. A duplicating machine comprising a cyclically movable stencil carrierrepeatedly carrying a stencil in a predetermined path into and out of aprinting position and a counter operatively coupled to the carrier tocount successive cycles of movement of the carrier, wherein a stencilspoiler is carried by a reciprocable mounting member adjacent to thecarrier and.

the mountin member is recip rocab le between an operative position in w1ch the spoiler will be in the path of the stencil and an inoperativeposition in which the spoiler will be out of said path of the stencil, atwo-state retainer coupled to said mounting member in one state holdingthe mounting member in said inoperative position and in the other statereleasing the mounting member to move to said operative position, andbetween the counter and retainer a coupling actuatable by the counter atzero count to release said retainer to said other state, at any othercount to hold said retainer in said one state, and the counter beingadjustable to store a predetermined count and being a retum-to-zerocounter in which a stored count will be reducible by one unit by eachcycle of movement of the carrier.

2. A duplicating machine comprising a rotatable stencil-carrying drumcarrying a stencil on its periphery and, in each rotation of the drum,moving a stencil through a printing position, and a counter operativelycoupled to the drum counting successive revolutions of the drum, whereina stencil spoiler is carried by a lever pivotally mounted adjacent tothe periphery of the drum, the lever being reciprocable on its mountingbetween an operative position in which the spoiler is in engagement withthe periphery of the drum and an inoperative position in which thespoiler is spaced from the drum, a twostate retainer coupled to thelever in one state holding the lever in said inoperative position and inits other state releasing the lever to move to said operative position,and between the counter and the retainer a coupling actuatable by thecounter at zero count to release the retainer to said other state and atany other count to hold the retainer in said one state, and the counterbeing adjustable to store a predetennined count and being areturn-to-zero counter in which a stored count will be reducible by oneunit by each revolution of the drum.

3. A duplicating machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the lever isengaged by a spring to bias the lever into its operative position, thetwo-state retainer is a solenoid and plunger, and the plunger isconnected to the lever to move the lever to its inoperative positionwhen the solenoid is energized, and the coupling between the counter andthe two-state retainer is an energizing circuit for the solenoid, saidcircuit including a switch operable by the counter to be opened by thecounter at zero count and to close when the counter is at any othercount.

4. A duplicating machine as claimed in claim 3, wherein the counterincludes a pulse-receiver, a pulse-generator is actuatable by the drumat each revolution thereof and is coupled to the pulse-receiver totransmit a pulse thereto at each actuation of the pulse-generator by thedrum, and the pulsereceiver is operative upon the counter to reduce thecount by one unit at each received pulse.

1. A duplicating machine comprising a cyclically movable stencil carrierrepeatedly carrying a stencil in a predetermined path into and out of aprinting position and a counter operatively coupled to the carrier tocount successive cycles of movement of the carrier, wherein a stencilspoiler is carried by a reciprocable mounting member adjacent to thecarrier and the mounting member is reciprocable between an operativeposition in which the spoiler will be in the path of the stencil and aninoperative position in which the spoiler will be out of said path ofthe stencil, a two-state retainer coupled to said mounting member in onestate holding the mounting member in said inoperative position and inthe other state releasing the mounting member to move to said operativeposition, and between the counter and retainer a coupling actuatable bythe counter at zero count to release said retainer to said other state,at any other count to hold said retainer in said one state, and thecounter being adjustable to store a predetermined count and being areturn-to-zero counter in which a stored count will be reducible by oneunit by each cycle of movement of the carrier.
 2. A duplicating machinecomprising a rotatable stencil-carrying drum carrying a stencil on itsperiphery and, in each rotation of the drum, moving a stencil through aprinting position, and a counter operatively coupled to the drumcounting successive revolutions of the drum, wherein a stencil spoileris carried by a lever pivotally mounted adjacent to the periphery of thedrum, the lever being reciprocable on its mounting between an operativeposition in which the spoiler is in engagement with the periphery of thedrum and an inoperative position in which the spoiler is spaced from thedrum, a two-state retainer coupled to the lever in one state holding thelever in said inoperative position and in its other state releasing thelever to move to said operative position, and between the counter andthe retainer a coupling actuatable by the counter at zero count torelease the retainer to said other state and at any other count to holdthe retainer in said one state, and the counter being adjustable tostore a predetermined count and being a return-to-zero counter in whicha stored count will be reducible by one unit by each revolution of thedrum.
 3. A duplicating machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein the leveris engaged by a spring to bias the lever into its operative position,the two-state retainer is a solenoid and plunger, and the plunger isconnected to the lever to moVe the lever to its inoperative positionwhen the solenoid is energized, and the coupling between the counter andthe two-state retainer is an energizing circuit for the solenoid, saidcircuit including a switch operable by the counter to be opened by thecounter at zero count and to close when the counter is at any othercount.
 4. A duplicating machine as claimed in claim 3, wherein thecounter includes a pulse-receiver, a pulse-generator is actuatable bythe drum at each revolution thereof and is coupled to the pulse-receiverto transmit a pulse thereto at each actuation of the pulse-generator bythe drum, and the pulse-receiver is operative upon the counter to reducethe count by one unit at each received pulse.